Pink Princess of Death
by writer1900
Summary: It's a perfectly ordinary day when all of sudden an eight-year-old girl as powerful as the gods mysteriously finds her way to CHB. But this isn't an ordinary demigod girl, either - she's the combined offspring of all three members of the Big Three. See how this pink-loving girl with a penchant for tulle skirts and raising the dead makes her way through CHB... and faces her past.
1. Chapter 1

It was a perfectly ordinary monday evening fireside at Camp Half Blood. The satyrs were eating toasted tinfoil, the tree nymphs were shrinking the nearby tree's branches away from the magical, multi-coloured fire, and Dionysus was drinking coca-cola out of a wine glass as he summoned up more plants to be chopped into firewood.

And then all of a sudden it wasn't a perfectly ordinary evening anymore.

The ground shook, the air grew cold, thunder blasted in the distance and the fire was doused out in a mysterious blaze of salty-smelling water. Altogether, this felt suspiciously like the handiwork of the Big Three.

Suddenly, a dark aura fell over the crowd, as though all the happiness and cheer from the evening's bonfire had been sucked out, along with heat. Campers shivered and moved closer to one another, looking around nervously on guard.

"What the hell is going on?" Thalia Grace asked, her hand tentatively hovered over her bracelet in case she needed a sudden shield. Percy Jackson had his pen out as well, and many other campers were holding their weapons.

"Ok," Percy called out into the air, "You've got our attention, whoever you are. Now do something!"

 **Campers, do not be alarmed.**

Everyone jumped, searching for the sound of the indescribable voice that had suddenly appeared in their heads. "Ok, _that_ is creepy," said Clarisse La Rue, who was usually not one to be frightened.

"Dad?" Dionysus asked, looking up at the sky, astounded. A look of hope quickly replaced it. "Can I finally leave this gods-forsaken hellhole?"

 **Not quite yet,** the voice chuckled, amused, as everyone else proceeded to freak out. **Although hellhole is a rather amusing bit of foreshadowing.**

"Dad?" Jason Grace asked, looking up at the sky hopefully. Thalia was trying not to get her hopes up, but she looked up as well.

 **My children,** the booming voice of Zeus said, in a rather fatherly tone. **I wish I could say I was here for you today. Unfortunately, there are other matters at hand.**

"Figures," Thalia snorted, rolling her eyes. "So? Why did you 'come' here tonight? And I use the word 'come' loosely, since you haven't even appeared. What's with the weird immortal-voice thingy?"

Zeus's voice took on a graver tone. **I dare not appear tonight in any mortal form,** he said, and all the campers could _feel_ his somber fear Zeus felt as he spoke. Annabeth Chase thought to herself, _I've got to learn how he did that. Maybe then Percy will finally understand why I can't just_ ask _Dionysus to magic up some tampons._

"So..." Percy said, braving to speak to Zeus without getting blown out of the sky for reminding the god he had been born. "Why _are_ you here?"

 **There is a child,** Zeus said, **who will be attending your camp.**

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that doesn't really explain anything."

 **This is a child,** Zeus said, **Born into the holy trinity of the Big Three.**

"Ok..." Percy said, trying along with the rest of the camp to figure out what the hell was going on. " _I'm_ a child of the Big Three. How come _I_ didn't get a godly introduction to Camp Half-Blood?"

 _ **You,**_ Zeus said, sounding annoyed at having to argue with a mere demigod, **were born to a single god of the Big Three.** ** _This_** **child that has somehow managed to be born is related to** ** _all_** **members of the Big Three.**

"How is that possible?" Annabeth blurted, her mind trying to calculate all the possible ways that could happen and coming up empty.

 **The Fates have made a mistake,** Zeus said sombrely. **They foolishly allowed Poseidon to have a child with a demigod child of mine, and then they allowed Hades to have a child with that child. Subsequently, the child that has been born is more powerful than anything even the gods have experienced before.**

"Oh come on," Piper piped up. "'Foolishly allowed' to have a kid? How could the gods not have known what they were doing? Why didn't you just stop each other?"

 **We were not aware of our own actions,** Zeus said. **The Fates were attempting an experiment with fate that went horribly wrong. They blinded us to our actions and made us unaware of what we were doing. The child is now more powerful than even they could have predicted and now the fate of the world hangs in balance. The Fates have dealt with the parents of such an audacity-**

"Hang on," Jason interrupted. "What do you mean, dealt with?"

Zeus's sigh echoed through the minds of everyone in camp. **The Fates have killed them off, and sent them to Tartarus for their sins. Poseidon, Hades and I are also not allowed to ever help or reach out to the child.**

"Sins?!" Percy cried. "What sins? Being pawns in the Fates experiments?"

 **Unfortunately, that is how the Fates view it, yes. But Hades is being particularly decent to the girl's mortal family, as he was also a pawn in this horrible plan.**

"Wait, so... what did you do with the kid? Why didn't the Fates kill him off, too?" Annabeth, though sick to her stomach, reasoned logically.

 _ **She**_ **is so powerful that even the Fates have no control over her. They cower on their knees in front of her, and even they would not be so foolish as to attempt putting her in Tartarus. For better or for worse, this child is now in control of her own destiny.**

"Lucky kid," Leo Valdez muttered under his breath as he and Calypso cuddled close against the unnatural cold in the air that had appeared when Zeus started to speak.

 **And now, she is being sent here, for safety. I expect all of you to treat her well, as she is but a child. Bring her to Chiron when she arrives.**

"Wait, what do you mean, but a child? How old is she? And when is she going to arrive?" Thalia asked, but it was too late. The air had returned to the normal temperature, the ground stopped its trembling, and the multi-coloured fire resumed as if nothing had ever happened.

Except, standing calmly but rather confused looking inside the giant fire stood a small, girl, looking around tentatively at her surroundings. She stepped out of the fire, exposing first her knee-height pink rain boots with a striped pink sock sticking out of one, then her pink tulle skirt, then her sparkly pink sequinned vest over her pink puffed-sleeves shirt and pink bows in her pigtails. The symbol of Hades floated above her head, glowing black.

"That's... not exactly what I was envisioning for the most powerful kid in the universe," Jason said slowly, taking in the pink-clad, cutesy little girl standing shyly in front of the fire which she had just _walked out of._ "Yeah, I was picturing something a bit more... black, for a daughter of Hades," Piper said, "Or at least, less pink," she finished, as the two of them tried not to laugh out loud.

The rest of the camp stared on in silence, mimicking how Piper and Jason felt. After an introduction from Zeus himself on how powerful this girl was, expectations had kind of been set for a grand, intimidating entry.

"Um, hello!" The girl said brightly, her voice shaking a bit in front of such a large crowd. "It's nice to meet you," she continued in a perfectly friendly way, seeming completely unaware to the expectations she was defying. The crowd remained impassively silent, trying to figure to how to react. The little girl gulped, her young age showing in her large eyes. "Uh, can anyone tell me where I am, please?"

"I'd be happy to, Princess," a son of Ares sitting in the front row sneered, rising to his feet where he towered a good few feet over the little girl. "As soon as you tell me what the #$% you're doing in our camp, ruining our perfectly nice little evening."

The girl shrugged, looking up at him with big, watery eyes. "Well, I would," she said sweetly, "but I'm not exactly sure myself. I just sorta... found myself here,"

The son of Ares' mouth twitched. "Look, princess. I just had to suffer through Zeus Almighty tryin' to intimidate us in your name, callin' you the Great and Powerful and a whole bunch of other B.S. so if you please you'll just mosey on out of here and right back to where you came from."

"Well that's not very nice," the little girl said, smoothing out her tulle skirt. "I don't know where I came from, either. No need to be _mean_."

Suddenly, the Ares kid screamed in pain, writhing to the ground. The camp gasped, and Clarisse rushed over to him. "Evan? Evan! Evan, wake up!" The girl in pink looked down at him, unfazed. "Don't worry," she said kindly to Clarisse, "I didn't kill him. He'll come to in a little bit,"

"D-didn't kill him?!" Clarisse sputtered, frantically looking between the young girl and her brother. "What'd you do to him? Fix it!"

The little girl sighed melodramatically with her whole body. "I can't. I don't know how to _undo_ death magic yet."

"Death magic?!"

The little girl rolled her eyes. "I was just giving him a taste of what Tartarus feels like, before he ends up there for being such a bully. If he doesn't want to go through this again, he'll stop being so rude. I _am_ just a helpless little girl," she said, the corners of her lips tugging up. "Now, can anyone _please_ tell me where I am?"

Clarisse, and the rest of the campers, stared at the little girl with their mouths hung open in shock. Even Dionysus had forgotten to stop filling his cup with coca-cola, and the overflowing liquid ran over his hand as he stared in shocked silence.

"Please?" the girl said, the sudden fear of a lost and alone young girl filling her voice. "I just want to know where I am,"

"Absolutely," Annabeth said, even surprising herself as she calmly rose to her feet and walked over to the young girl, without even a quake in her voice. She stepped over Evan, who was still writhing on the ground with his mouth open in a silent scream, and up to the young girl.

"I can help you. My name's Annabeth Chase, and you're at Camp Half-Blood. Why don't I explain more as we walk? I need to take you to see Chiron, the Camp Director,"

"Ok," the girl said, taking Annabeth's hand. "Thank you,"

"No problem," Annabeth said, squeezing the girl's tiny hand gently as they walked off.

"Man, you do _not_ want to get on that little girl's bad side." Leo whistled as the campers watched Annabeth lead the girl off.

"Seriously," Percy said, "I wonder if she could teach me some of that death magic stuff,"

Jason, who was nearby, grinned. "Annabeth would kill you before you had the chance to use it."

"I wonder how Nico's going to take to having a new roommate," Piper said, looking around. "Speaking of which, where _is_ Nico? Or Hazel?"

"Nico's off wherever he goes, but he'll be back soon enough." Percy said. "Hazel's at Camp Jupiter with Frank and Reyna, so I guess we'll have to send them an Iris message later or something,"

"Of all the sisters those two could have gotten," Jason grinned. "What do you think Chiron's gonna do with her?"

The rest of the group shrugged. "Guess we'll find out soon enough," Piper said.

* * *

"Now, did you by any chance have a name?" Annabeth asked the girl as they walked, hand in hand.

The girl smiled gratefully at Annabeth's kindness, showing all of her baby teeth. "You can call me Panda,"

"Panda?" Annabeth echoed. "That's a pretty uncommon name,"

The girl shrugged. "Well, it's not my _real_ name, it's just what I go by. Don't ask me what my real name is though,"

"Alright, I won't," Annabeth said. "Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"

"I'm eight and a half!" Panda said proudly, thrusting her pink-clad chest out. "That's almost nine!"

"Wow," Annabeth said, "You're the youngest camper here. That's pretty special,"

"I am?" Panda asked, cocking her head curiously. "How old were you when you got here?"

Annabeth said, "Well, I was seven, but that was a long time ago. Nowadays, since the gods have given us more protection from monsters, most kids don't need to come here until they're eleven or twelve."

Panda looked sadly at the ground, subconsciously rubbing a jagged scar along her collarbone. "The gods didn't give _me_ any protection from monsters,"

"I don't think they're allowed," Annabeth said sympathetically. "What sort of monsters have attacked you?"

"What sort of monsters haven't?" Panda said, trying to smile. "I can't remember a day in my whole life where I haven't killed something,"

"Yeah, I've been there," Annabeth told her, "But you're being a real trooper about it. I mean, how many little girls manage to juggle fighting off bad guys in princess costumes?"

Panda giggled, and it was a sound so innocent and infectious that it filled Annabeth with warmth until she had to grin, too.

"Thanks for that," Panda said, smiling up at Annabeth. "I can't remember the last time I laughed,"

Annabeth ruffled the young girl's golden hair. "You should laugh more often," she said warmly to the young girl. "I'd be happy to help out,"

Panda grinned and suddenly threw herself against Annabeth's side into a hug. Annabeth wrapped her arm around the girl and instinctively scooped her up, where Panda nestled her head on Annabeth's shoulder. "You're nice," Panda sighed contentedly from Annabeth's shoulder. "I'm not used to people being nice,"

"Well, don't worry," Annabeth said, rubbing the girl's back with her other hand. She couldn't believe what she was doing; usually Annabeth was not very good with kids.

There was something about Panda that made Annabeth's heart ache, though - probably that Annabeth had been a similar age when she had gotten to camp half-blood, and still could quite clearly remember the pain and fear that hadn't gone away for months, even after she had made it to safety. And to think that this girl had done it all completely on her own: no friends, no gods ever stepping in to help, not even the Fates to give her mercy.

"Everyone here is pretty nice. No more monsters for you," Annabeth told the girl in a sort of promise, as they walked into Chiron's cabin.

"I hope so," Panda said, curling up into Annabeth.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, breakfast was abuzz with conversation among the demigods as everyone tried to wrap their minds around the new girl, aka the Most Powerful Demigod In Existence Who's Also a Pink-Loving Little Girl.

"Annabeth never came back to the cabin last night," Malcolm, one of Annabeth's Athena-born half-brothers spilled, wide-eyed over breakfast to other campers, now that campers were allowed to sit at other tables.

"Maybe the girl killed her on their way to Chiron's in a fit of rage," An Ares kid sneered.

"I heard that she's so powerful, she can bend light waves, and that's why she looks so young and cute," another camper from Aphrodite said. "Really, though, she's an evil old hag,"

"Well, you know what I heard?" Piper said, dropping her stuff on the table with an angry bang. "I heard that she's just a kid, who didn't ask to be born half-blood any more than the rest of us, and who's just scared and afraid of being all alone in a world full of monsters."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "You seem pretty sensitive over the whole topic," he said, wrapping his arm around her comfortingly as she sat down so close she was practically on him.

Piper sighed. "I'm just pissed off that everyone's making such a big deal over this kid just because Zeus basically told us to. I mean, what's the deal with that, anyway? Sometimes it feels like sometimes the gods _try_ to make our lives more difficult."

Thunder boomed menacingly in the distance. Jason looked at the sky nervously. "Well, at least we know that they always have good intentions, right? I'm sure all Zeus meant was for to be a reminder that she's so young, and that we should be extra nice to her and not be horrible to her because of how powerful she is,"

"Why shouldn't we be?" the Ares kid sneered across the table. "I mean, she was pretty horrible to us last night? Did you _see_ what she did to Evan? He's still recovering in the hospital wing!"

Piper glared at him. " _Because_ he was being mean to her. She's like eight years old, how did you expect her to react?"

"A little more maturely, for someone who's getting introduced to camp by the gods themselves," the Ares kid snickered maliciously, and Piper decided her best course of action was to charm-speak him to go to another table and also to pee himself on his way over.

The kid got up, made his way over to the Ares table, peed himself in front of all his siblings, and ran off to his cabin trying not to cry. Piper watched the scene with a little bit of guilt, but mostly bit back a malicious smile of her own. "I can play dirty if you wanna play that way," she muttered, grinning, to herself, and Jason snorted. "Don't you think that was a bit mean?" he asked, poking her side.

"What was mean?" An adorable, little-girl voice asked innocently from behind them, making Piper and Jason jump.

Panda sat down across from them at the table, with a cheerful smile. Annabeth and Percy quickly followed suit, Annabeth flashing the pair a tired smile as she dropped herself in between Percy and Panda. "Hey guys," Percy said. "Have you met Panda yet?"

Panda, who was still wearing the same outfit as she had been last night, but more dishevelled, gave a sweet, friendly wave, just the slightest bit shy. "Hello," she said, "I'm Panda."

"Panda," Piper echoed, trying to be warm to the young girl. "That's a cute name."

"I got it as a nickname when I was younger for always having my hair up in pigtail buns," Panda grinned with baby teeth. "That was back before I switched over to just regular pigtails," she explained seriously, making everyone at the table smile from how cute she was.

"Well, what's your real name?" Jason asked, also trying to be friendly. Panda looked at him, still serious, and said, "Don't ask about that, or I might have to kill you." She smiled apologetically, and Jason nodded in understanding. "Alright, then, Panda it is,"

"Anyways," Panda went on, "Chiron the half-horse told me that this place is for demigods, and that tonight I'll get to sleep in my very own cabin with my very own big brother! I'm so excited, I've never had a brother before!"

"Chiron's a centaur, not a half-horse," Annabeth corrected gently, the Athena in her unable to help it. Panda nodded her understanding.

"Yeah, your older brother's name is Nico," Percy said, "Nico Di'Angelo. He's a great guy, excellent to have around as your first older brother. He'll be here in a few minutes,"

"Cool!" Panda said, grinning with all her baby teeth. Then suddenly her face changed. "Omigosh, I think I have a wiggly tooth!" She exclaimed, reaching into her mouth. After feeling around for a few seconds, Panda grinned around her fingers, exclaiming, "I do! My very first loose tooth!"

"Hey, that's awesome," Percy said, messing the young girl's already dishevelled hair with his hand, making her giggle. "I remember my first loose tooth. I even got a visit from the tooth fairy,"

Panda giggled at him. "The tooth fairy's not real," she said. "I'm not a baby,"

Percy raised his eyebrows at her. "Oh really?" he asked, trying to fake seriousness. "You're in a camp full of demigods, where magic is perfectly normal. Why don't you think the tooth fairy's real?"

Panda's eyes widened and she gasped as she realized what Percy was saying. "Omigosh," she said, "Is the tooth fairy really for real?"

Percy nodded in his best attempts at looking serious. "She's really for real," he said sombrely, "And you'd better hope you didn't offend her by not believing. Who knows what the tooth fairy is capable of?"

Panda's innocent eyes practically bugged out of her head. "Oh no!" she said. "I'd better find Chiron the centaur-horse and ask him what to do!" With that, she ran off, half-eaten chocolate croissant in hand and pink-bowed pigtails and tulle skirt flying out behind her.

Jason snorted at Percy as the group watched Panda run off. "You'd better hope Chiron plays along," he said to Percy. "'Cuz if she ever finds out, you're gonna end up in the hospital wing right next to Evan."

Percy grinned. "Oh, come on, it was a harmless prank. Besides, she's eight years old. Every eight year old has to believe in the tooth fairy."

Annabeth shrugged, the corners of her mouth tugging up. "Look, either way, if she finds out and comes looking for revenge, I'm not helping you. I don't want to get sent to Tartarus for your harmless prank on the most powerful demigod in existence."

Piper laughed. "Honestly, I'm just hung up on her sense of style. That girl dresses better fighting off monsters than I do now, here at camp,"

Annabeth grinned. "Yeah, she's almost like a caricature of the stereotypical little girl when it comes to that. From what I've gotten to know of her so far, she loves pink, dresses, gymnastics, and this new craze out in the mortal world called Frozen,"

"Sounds terrifying," Jason said. "What's it about, survival on some kind of arctic wasteland?"

Annabeth chuckled. "Not quite. From what I gathered, it's about two princess sisters, and one of them has ice powers and conjures up a talking snowman."

"Jeez," Percy said. "How'd she survive for so long on her own like that?"

Annabeth shrugged with a smile. "I guess it had something to do with her having the combined powers of all the members of the Big Three. Plus, she's got more skills than you'd think,"

"All I think is that watching her and Nico learning to get along is going to be very interesting," Piper smiled, "Especially once she sees Cabin 13,"

* * *

"Right," Percy said to Panda later that day, "I've been assigned with showing you your new cabin. Annabeth will be here soon, but _apparently_ Chiron trusts her more than me to leave camp and get Nico,"

Panda bounced on her feet happily with the energy that only a little kid with ADHD can muster. "Ok!" she said, grabbing Percy's hand and pulling him along excitedly as he led them to the cabins. "I'm so excited! I hope it's pink and covered in sparkles," she rambled, her eyes suddenly widening. "And _unicorns,_ " she gasped. "Are those real too? Oh, please tell me they're real! Like the tooth fairy!"

"Uh, yeah, those are real," Percy said, desperately hoping he was right. He wished Annabeth was here; she'd definitely know. "But, uh... there's probably something you should know about your cabin,"

"What is it?" Panda said as they reached the U where the cabins were arranged. She excitedly scoured the landscape, looking for a cabin that fit her mental description.

She gasped suddenly. "There it is!" Panda pointed, and before Percy could open his mouth to tell her that she was probably wrong or even see where she was pointing, she sprinted off in the direction of the cabin.

"Oh, gods," Percy muttered to himself when he saw Panda nearing the Aphrodite cabin. He had been trying his hardest to avoid going anywhere near the Aphrodite cabin ever since one of the campers had tried to put a love spell on him. Nevertheless, he sighed and ran off after her.

Panda rushed towards the dollhouse-like, her excitement growing with each step closer. This cabin was everything she could have dreamed for in her very first house - it was pink, sparkly, and smelled nice, and she hadn't even gone inside yet.

Panda burst through the neon door, looking around in awe and excitement. The inside was pink as well, and... "Hey," Panda said, furrowing her brow. "What are all you people doing in my cabin?"

The Aphrodite campers, mostly girls, giggled. "Oh, gods," Piper muttered from her bed, noticing Panda's increasing confusion. "Panda, honey," she said, going over to the eight-year-old. "This isn't your cabin,"

"It's not?" Panda said, looking up at Piper with such a sincere look of hurt and disappointment that Piper almost burst into tears. _She could be in Aphrodite,_ Piper thought to herself, _Between the pink tulle and the swaying emotional power, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few other gods had worked their way into her._

"No, I'm sorry, Panda-Bear. This is the Aphrodite cabin," Piper said, scooping up the small girl, who by the looks of it was bravely holding back tears. "But... I wanted my very own bright pink cabin,"

Another Aphrodite girl whose name was MacKenzie came over, dressed in her own _very_ form-fitting pink dress. "Piper, who is this absolutely _charming_ little girl? She's so cute, and I absolutely _love_ her cute little skirt!"

Piper saw Panda visibly brighten at the compliment, and gave a relieved sigh. She mental note to thank MacKenzie later. "This is Panda, the new girl, and I agree, she is _very_ cute. In fact, I think she'd just love to take a look at all your clothes, MacKenzie,"

"Of course! I'd love to share my style with someone clearly so fashionable," MacKenzie grinned perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth down at Panda, who was eagerly scrambling to get down from Piper's arms and into MacKenzie's. Piper passed her over, and MacKenzie carried the young girly-girl in the making over to her closet, which was stocked full of all things pink and girly.

Piper watched them go off, then went outside to find Percy, who was _supposed_ to be watching Panda and taking her to her own cabin. Then again, Piper thought, picturing the Hades cabin, she would want to delay the experience of showing Panda her new cabin too.

"Well, speak of the devil," Piper said as she saw Percy running up the hill to the Aphrodite cabin. "I was just wondering where you were and why it wasn't Cabin 13,"

Percy sighed, rubbing his forehead and brushing his shaggy black hair out of his eyes in the process. "Panda got sort of excited when she saw your cabin," he explained, "I guess she was pretty excited about having her very own barbie house to live in."

Piper sighed, understanding. "Judging by the little bit she's told us about her life already, I bet she was just excited to have any house at all to sleep in,"

"Yeah, well," Percy said with a cheeky half-smile, "She might rethink that after seeing her very own Black Tower Of Death."

Piper laughed, and just then Panda came out, pulling MacKenzie by the hand, her face covered in ridiculous makeup and a too-large tiara falling over her face. Piper also noticed with a grin that she was attempting to wear a pair of MacKenzie's 6-inch stiletto heels, about 90% of the shoe sticking out behind her ankles as her tiny feet failed to fill the heel.

"I'm ready to go and see my cabin!" Panda grinned at Piper, her eyes sparkling. "Kenzie said I can come here whenever I wanna get my beauty fix. She even said she'll take me shopping!"

"Let's go, then," Percy said, extending his own hand to help the tiny, wobbling girl balance in her too-large shoes. "But... why don't you put your rain boots back on first?"


	3. Chapter 3

Nico slouched against the wall outside of Cabin 13, his arms crossed. He blew his black fringe out of his eyes, trying to look completely disinterested and neutral, as if everything was normal.

But everything wasn't normal. Because today, approximately two minutes ago, which was when Percy was _supposed_ to arrive, Nico was getting a sister again. And yes, he knew he already had Hazel, but she didn't _really_ count. She was a child of Pluto, and she couldn't even control the dead. She was basically normal - for a kid of the underworld, at least.

While Nico was trying his absolute hardest not to get excited, since it felt like every time he loved something/someone it died, he was failing. _Nico was getting a sister again._ Images rushed through his mind as he thought of what she would be like. He knew she was young, Annabeth had told him that much, but what else? Bianca had been young.

Annabeth had also mentioned something about pink or something, but Nico had brushed that off, sure it was a mistake. Any child of Hades was pretty much born goth, Nico had learned. It was easier that way, since most people find kids who can rule the dead a bit creepy. It was easier to close yourself off, Nico had learned, and surround yourself with dead things who couldn't hurt you.

After a few more minutes, as Nico grew more and more impatient by the minute, he thought he saw something in the distance. Squinting against the sun that his eyes weren't used to, Nico realized they were the figures of two people, and despite himself excitement rose in his chest. He could feel her death force exuding off of her from where he was, impressively powerful.

He raised his head from its slouch against the black obsidian wall and stood up slightly straighter. One of the figures - a very short one, by the looks of it - was running up ahead of the taller one with the gait of a young, excited child.

Nico's lips tugged up in the corners in the closest thing he had gotten to a smile in years. _That's my sister,_ he thought disbelieving.

And then she got closer, and closer, and then she was right in front of him. Nico blinked. Then he blinked again. And then again. He could not believe what he was seeing. Because standing in front of him was a girl who could not possibly be the daughter of Hades.

 _So that's what Annabeth meant by pink,_ he thought to himself, his heart rate increasing.

Nico gulped as he stared down at the little girl beaming up at him dressed in so much pink and cakey makeup that it was almost comical. He did not know how to handle this; Nico rarely could even handle normal interactions with living people... much less with his sister, and much, much less with the prepubescent version of a Valley Girl.

Luckily, she knew how to handle it just fine. "Hi!" She exclaimed brightly, bouncing on her feet and causing her bowed pigtails to bounce around all over the place. For the love of Hades, she had actual _bows_ in her _pigtails._ Actual, physical bows. How was that even possible?

"I'm Panda," she grinned at him, poking a loose tooth near the front of her mouth with her tongue. "I'm your new sister."

She seemed to have no problem with Nico's general look, which was unusual. Even if they weren't repulsed by Nico's general death aura, people usually backed off when Nico walked in head-to-toe clad in black, chains, piercings, and skulls.

And of all the people not to associate with Nico's type, it was the exact pink-clad, tulle-wearing, princess-and-all-things-feminine-loving girls like the one who was apparently somehow related to Nico.

"I'm really excited," Panda continued, apparently not caring less as to whether or not Nico was actually paying attention, "'cuz I've never had a brother before, especially not a big one, and we get to share our very own cabin just like a giant sleepover! MacKenzie said she would come over later and help us decorate and do makeovers and sleepovers and fun stuff like that..."

Nico groaned. _Oh, please gods, not MacKenzie,_ he thought to himself, slapping a palm to his forehead to ensure that this was not just some horrible nightmare. "Uh..." he coughed, trying to form words. The little girl continued rambling on about sleepovers and unicorns and even beginning to twirl on the spot as she spoke, full of smiles and sunshine and happiness and, of course, pink.

Nico looked at Percy, who had finally made his way up the hill to the Hades cabin, with the look of a drowned kitten. Percy bit back a smile as he tried to find some common ground between the two Hades kids. Nico, noticing Percy's amusement despite the older boy's best attempts to hide it, glared at Percy.

"Uh, so you guys have met," Percy said, a crooked half-smile finally breaking out. "Panda, this is your older brother Nico. Nico, this is your new sister, Panda. Please be nice,"

"Of course he'll be nice!" Panda cried, throwing herself onto Nico in a fit of innocent euphoria. "He's my brother!"

Nico awkwardly backed against the black obsidian wall of his cabin - _their_ cabin - not quite sure how to react. Contact was not one of his strengths, nor was being nice. However, somewhere deep down in the underworld of his subconscious, Nico found the first spark of the role of Protective Older Brother, and shocked himself by hugging the tiny girl back. He frowned, noticing how bony she was, and that was Nico talking.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asked Panda, rubbing the back of her head with one hand. "And have you ever had a bath in your life?"

Panda grinned up at Nico as much as she could with her face squished against his body. "Nope, never!" she said with enthusiastic pride.

"Yeah, well, I can tell," Nico said sarcastically, pushing her off of him gently. "You smell like Dad,"

"Like death, you mean?" Panda asked innocently. "'Cuz I'm not sure if showering can fix that."

Percy snorted from behind them, and even Nico found himself smiling. There was just some charming quality about Panda that could apparently melt even the most frozen of hearts, if Nico was any example.

Before Percy could catch Nico's smile, he turned to face the black doorway, looking at the green fire in the archways to shield his face from Percy. "Come on," he said to Panda without turning to face her as he pushed open the heavy obsidian door. "Welcome to your new home."

Panda cocked her head, looking up at the impressive archway. "Is there any way we could make that fire pink?" She asked, pointing to the sacrificial fires of Hades. "Green's not really my colour,"

"No." Nico said, disappearing inside the dark interiors of the Hades cabin.

"Okay then," Panda said, rolling her eyes as she imitated Nico and followed him into the cabin. "No need to be _rude._ If you weren't my brother, I'd blast you to Hades,"

"Hades isn't a place," came the annoyed tone from inside.

"Whatever," Panda said, sassily flipping her pigtails.

Percy, holding back his laughter as best he could, decided now was as good a time as any to leave and begin the camp gossip on the new Hades siblings.

* * *

Panda gasped when she saw the inside of Cabin 13.

"What _is_ this place? It looks like a tomb," she said, her voice trembling the slightest bit as she took in her dark, scary surroundings.

The cabin was black and windowless, and lighted only by the same green fire that had been featured outside. There were two sets of bunk beds, one against each wall, and the beds were shaped like coffins, lined with red velvet. The floor was cold, black stone, and the room in general felt like it was the sucking the life force right out of you.

As the only source of colour in the entire room, Panda practically glowed pink, exuding brightness and cheer without even meaning to just from the contrast of her surroundings.

"It's the Underworld of Camp Half-Blood," Nico said, rolling his eyes as he plopped down onto one of the beds that he had claimed as his own a while ago. Of course, up until just now, he hadn't had a reason to claim any beds at all. "Dark, gloomy, creepy, and lonely, just like Hades and his children."

Panda looked downright offended at Nico's pessimistic remarks. "I am _not_ gloomy!" she practically spat. " _You,_ maybe, but not me! _I_ am perfectly happy and not the littlelest bit lonely in the slightest bit!" she said, crossing her arms and huffing down onto the coffin-shaped bed opposite Nico's.

The corners of Nico's lips tugged up. "If you say so," he said, clearly not believing her, "But let's talk about it later. You desperately need to take a bath."

"Well I don't want to take a bath if I have to like, lie in a coffin filled with red water or something gross and creepy like that," Panda said, dramatically kicking off her pink rain boots, which hit the floor with an anticlimactic squeak. "We're rulers of the dead, not dead ourselves just yet."

"Fine," Nico sighed, slightly alarmed at how accurately Panda had guessed what was in the bathroom. "We'll conjure up some normal tub or something if it'll make you happy. Okay?"

But much to Nico's devastation, Panda shook her head. "I want a pink tub," she said, mustering up as much stubbornness as her eight-and-three-quarter-years could bear against the dark, overpowering gloom of her older brother.

"No way," Nico argued, already missing the solitude of being an only child. "That's where I draw the line. No pink,"

"Why _not?_ " Panda whined, pouting as her eyes filled with tears. "It's not _fair!_ You get to have the whole cabin be all deathy and sad like you like, even though I think it's scary! You don't even have to _use_ the pink bathtub, you can keep your stinky coffiny one!"

"Ok, ok," Nico said, panicking at the sight of tears. "You can have a stupid pink bathtub,"

"Thank you!" Panda said, suddenly completely bright and cheerful again as she bounced off the bed without the faintest hint of tears. "You conjure the tub, I'll be in the bathroom to see what other renovations we need!"

Nico, mouth dropped open, couldn't even sigh in response. "Hades," he muttered to himself as he slugged off towards the Hephaestus cabin to find someone who could make him a pink bathtub, "this whole sibling thing is _not_ how I remember it."


End file.
